[Bradford] UK Banks and Linux

[Alice Kaerast]

Natwest works absolutely fine on my Linux systems, all running the latest
stable versions of Ubuntu and Mint.  It even works fine on older versions
of Firefox with the noscript plugin installed (though does warn you not to
do that).

The only time I've accessed it on a Windows machine was the initial setup
in the bank (which was running Internet Explorer and Windows NT).

Their security method is a card reader which you only need to add new
instructions to make payments (you can pay people you've previously paid
without it).  You can theoretically use a smartcard reader and some Python
scripts instead of the physical card reader, but I never got round to
actually trying that out.  You can also use a card reader supplied by any
other UK bank since they are all compatible.

I would encourage you to take apart the card reader you get given by
Natwest and look for any obvious gsm chips before using it (it's a really
simple system, so there shouldn't be any big chips on it).  There have
been (rare) instances of banks being sent card readers with extra chips
added.

Natwest also have a nice system for sending you an sms if your balance
drops below a certain value as well as a weekly sms of your current
balance.  It's a real pain when you change cards, but it generally works
quite nicely and it's a good way of having your current balance pushed to
you (turning on online banking turns off paper statements).

The one issue I have with Natwest is the username for login.  It's your
birth date followed by a three digit number (ddmmyy###).  It just feels
really insecure, even though I guess it probably is a better idea than
supplying your account number.

-- 
Alice Kærast

On Sun, April 18, 2010 1:55 pm, Dick Thomas wrote:
> I'm thinking of moving my banking from Abbey/Santander
> to another bank I'm thinking Natwest or barclays does any body have
> any experience with linux / chrome
> and their online banking systems
>
>
> Regards
> Dick
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